Fire
As the Caldor Fire tore through Sierra-at-Tahoe, CA, earlier this month, we feared the worst––one of our favorite resorts was being razed to the ground.
Thankfully, that didn’t happen, and due to heroic work by firefighters and the use of snowguns to dampen the area, Sierra-at-Tahoe survived. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any damage.
Lifts have been damaged, although how many and to what extent is unknown. A significant number of trees are fire damaged, and the removal of them along Sierra-at-Tahoe Road is already underway.
The resort posted an update to Instagram yesterday after having time to assess as much as possible, and where they are with opening day just weeks away. Until fire crews have finished their work, resort staff are unable to enter and fully inspect the area and infrastructure to give us an idea of a timeline to opening.
We’re hoping that damage is minimal and Sierra-at-Tahoe can open as quickly as possible.
Our goal is to continue to share what we know — and what we’re still learning — with you as we continue to gather more information.
Unfortunately, the Caldor Fire is very much still active within the resort and surrounding areas, and fire crews and personnel are continuing fire suppression efforts in the region. To date, this has limited our opportunity to have experts at Sierra to fully assess all that needs to be done.
We understand Hwy 50 will reopen tomorrow, however the resort remains closed, as is the Eldorado National Forest. The US Forest Service has a security guard positioned at the entrance to the resort and is only admitting fire crews and personnel affiliated with PG&E, who are onsite working hard to restore power to all those who have been impacted along the Hwy 50 corridor.
Our partners at the USFS have begun to survey the situation on the ground at Sierra and as of today, have crews actively removing fire damaged trees along Sierra-at-Tahoe Road. We expect we will know more soon about the level of support they can provide within the resort boundary itself, as there are a significant number of fire damaged trees there too.
Although we have not yet inspected all of the lifts, we have been able to look at several of them. Nob Hill and Short Stuff have sustained damage to varying degrees. When the fire crews wrap up their work, we will be able to really get in and understand more about the level of repair needed and the timeline related to how quickly that can happen.
In the meantime, we are making every effort to not only assess the damage, but to do what we can to restore as much of our resort operations as possible prior to the start of the season.
On behalf of our entire Sierra-at-Tahoe team, we appreciate your patience and support. We will continue to keep you updated as we learn more and begin to develop a clearer picture of our operational plans for this season.
